Category: Misc.

Been on vacation this last week, so haven’t gotten much done. Soon as I got home, tho… time to get to work.

First off, welcome to the first day of Spring! Trinket certainly enjoyed the day… and no, she’s not dead. She loves to sleep in the warm sunshine.

Spent some serious time getting the brake pedal rigging accomplished. The single pedal actuates 2 master cylinders, one for front and one for rear brakes. They are different sizes, so the brake system has a method for setting the bias on the brakes… which one applies harder or slower so all tires tend to lock at the same time. Anyways, my master cylinders were bottomed out before any adjustments could be made, keeping everything under tension and not acting right at all. I cut 3/8″ off the end of each master cylinder and it all fell into place. Set the bias in the center for now (that will be adjusted when I start driving) and got the pistons in the master cylinders set right where they should be. The pedal has about 1/16″ of play. Perfect.

Next was the clutch pedal. It was sitting about 1.5″ higher than the brake pedal with the master cylinder screwed all the way in… no good. So guess what I did… yep! Cut about 3/8″ off the end of that master cylinder, too. The clutch pedal is now easily adjustable to the brake pedal height and was able to set the clutch safety switch. Did have to grind a bit on the pedal to clear some structure, but this is a known item on these cars. Pedals are good!

Decided to start installing and fastening down some aluminum. If you recall some earlier pictures, the aluminum interior was all installed, by only by a few screws and not precisely. I installed some of the footboxes, but have to wait on my powdercoater for the other pieces… still. However, I was able to fit, trim, drill and install the passenger and driver floors and begin building the cockpit. There’s a lot of pieces that all have to overlap just right and fit together, then they all get drilled, silicone applied and riveted together.

Probably spent about 6 hours on the aluminum today. The back wall is still just temporarily installed because there’s some trunk aluminum that has to go in first. But the back wall is fitted and drilled, just held in place with clecos (spring loaded pins used to hold sheetmetal together during assembly).

Is it starting to look like a car yet?

I’m going to start updating this page once per week.

This week, I got a call from the powdercoater. He said the grey hammer powder I wanted was no longer available and couldn’t get any more. Stopped in and picked out a regular grey. Also picked up my steel parts that had been done in gloss black.

Before & After:

Since I got those back, I was able to start building the pedal box. This holds the master cylinders for the brakes and clutch as well as a place to hang the pedals.  I’m using a Forte hydraulic clutch system instead of the stock cable and also upgraded the throttle pedal to a Russ Thompson unit. The pedal box, pedals and all master cylinders are from Wilwood, as are the brakes at the wheels.

Looks like a real Flintstone car, doesn’t it.

Also went ahead and installed the front lower control arms. I upgraded all the ball joints to Howe Racing parts, and they are so smooth. Also rebuildable and very close tolerance. Just real nice parts. Using Energy Suspension polyurethane boots that should last almost forever.

Wont be doing much next week. Hopefully will get my aluminum done soon so I can really get to it.

I received the last of my backordered parts this week, last item being the wiring harness from Ron Francis. Can’t wait to get my hands into that and start doing some modifications.

 

Spent a cold day out in the garage today, working on The Boss. First up was installing a front battery tray. This moves the battery from a high and difficult access in the trunk to low and easy in the engine compartment. This kit is made by Breeze and is just as nice as the other Breeze stuff I’ve bought. All stainless and fit better than they said it should.

Also fitted one of the Breeze roll bars that I got and compared to the Factory 5 roll bar. The Breeze is Stainless where the F5 is Powder coated black. The Breeze is also shorter, laid back some and uses thicker material. I think I will be staying with the Stainless bars and get them polished up. They will look great with the polished stainless side pipes I’ll be using.

Next up was to get some more work done on the fuel system. I have to manufacture every hose and hard line as I’m doing something different from stock. Surprised? Didn’t think so. I mounted the fuel filter under the passenger seat for easy access (maintenance). It was also the only place I could find that had a large enough flat and strong surface to handle the mounts.  I tucked in as tight as I could to the frame rail for protection. Then made a stainless 3/8 fuel hose to run from the fuel pickup to the filter. These hoses take some time to make and every one has to be pressure tested before I can install it.

Also installed the larger fuel tank vent (seen in the pic above) and routed the hose for that. [edit: Realized after posting that I had the fuel pressure hose to the filter attached to the wrong port on the fuel pickup… I had attached to the return.  All fixed now…]

That’s about it for today in the shop. Got on the computer and ordered my fuel and brake lines, a bunch of aircraft Adel clamps for the fuel and vent hoses and some tools to make my own brake and fuel lines.

Still waiting for those aluminum panels to get powder coated… that is holding me up so much…

Stopped at the powdercoater today. He’s had my parts for a week (30 steel pieces and 15 aluminum panels) and hasn’t touched them. Said he was going to have someone do the steel gloss black today and that “the boss” has my grey hammered powder on order. Guess I’ll wait another week…

In other news, more parts showed up today! Breeze sent me 2 boxes and still expecting a third. Stainless steel roll bars (2), fittings and stainless lines for my power steering rack, relocated stainless battery box (gets the battery out of the difficult-to-access trunk and into the nose of the car). Tomorrow expecting a large bore fuel tank vent and a storage compartment for the rear cockpit wall. Still expecting parts from Howe Racing, Russ’s Machine Shop and Mike Forte Performance Parts. 😉

Got my fuel tank setup today. Installed the new level sender and a new Pro-M fuel pump holder / fuel pickup. The Pro-M is designed for high horsepower cars with larger-than-stock pressure and return lines. These are the same size my entire fuel system will be… 3/8.

So the fuel tank is in and secure. Tomorrow brings some items being delivered and hopefully my powdercoater is done.

Big day for the Boss 427 as she starts to get her parts bolted on. Today I installed the rear axle and suspension. I upgraded to spherical bearing, solid rod-end lower control arms for something more solid and adjustable.

(info overload alert) This is a 3 link rear suspension. It uses all solid rod-end connections and a coil-over-shock suspension.  Very adjustable and very solid. The rear axle is from Moser. I’m running a 3.54:1 gear, which will work great with the torque of the 427W and the .62OD TKO600 transmission.

Also managed to get the steering rack installed. This is a brand new power steering rack, which I will need for the large front tires I’ll be running. The centering of the rack came out perfect, no adjustments needed.

Headed out Sunday am to meet the Capital Area Cobra Club for breakfast, then will be back in the garage. Thanks for staying with me for updates.

Spent 2 days fitting and drilling all of the engine compartment aluminum. These parts are all going out for powdercoat. Used all of my clecos, which are spring-loaded pins used to temporarily hold sheetmetal in place.

Also gathered all of the bare steel pieces (hood and trunk hinges, exhaust brackets, etc) and had those ready for the powdercoater, too. The steel will all be gloss black, like the chassis.

More this weekend!

With the help of 2 friends, Chip & Bo, we got the body off today and onto the body buck. The body will live the next few months (at least) on this support while the rest of the roadster is being built.

Next I marked all the aluminum panels where they overlap and where they will be mounted to the frame. Then I removed all the temporary screws and removed the panels. Now I’ve got the bare basic frame. As Bo said, “Like an artist’s empty canvas”.

Tomorrow I start drilling and temporarily reassembling.

Met some new friends  from the Capital Area Cobra Club this morning at Boatyard Grill in Eastport (Annapolis). Lots of good people and a few very nice cars. I was the slowest one to eat because I was talking so much. Lots of experience building cars here. Looking forward to getting to know these folks better.

Here’s a video of 3 of the cars leaving. 2 Cobras and a Daytona, all Factory 5’s. Yes, there were spectators, thats who you hear speaking.

Started putting together the coil-over Koni shocks today. Found I am missing 2 snap rings for the front shocks that are not listed on the inventory. Will get that taken care of. Otherwise, got all 4 shocks assembled with no issues.